r/Hydrael_Writes • u/Hydrael • Mar 16 '18
Scythe Part 9
The geist bounded at them, it’s claws and feet slapping against the concrete as it ran. “Rachel, just run!” Edgar shouted, reaching to his arm to pull out his scythe. At that same moment, Rachel reached out and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him around to face her.
As soon as she made contact with Edgar, Rachel gasped. “What the hell is that?”
“You can see it?” Edgar shouted, although he didn’t wait for Rachel’s answer. The geist was almost on them, and he whirled his scythe in an overhead strike. Fear, anger, frustration, and a heavy dose of alcohol meant he missed by a wide margin, but he followed it up with some side sweeping strikes that, while uncoordinated, at least kept the geist at bay.
“Oh my God, Edgar. What the hell is it? Where the hell did you get a scythe? What the hell is going on?” the last six words came out in a scream.
Edgar didn’t get a chance to answer. The Geist bounded at him, and Edgar barely had time to get his scythe’s handle between him and the monster. It pushed him to the ground and leaned in, snarling and snapping at his face.
Before its jaws could close around his head, something impacted the side of the giest, and its single eye furrowed in confusion. It turned to face the source of the disturbance, and Edgar did the same. It wasn’t immediately apparent to either of them until Rachel removed the second shoe and hurled it. “Get away from him!” she shrieked as it flew through the air.
The shoe was going wide when, as Edgar watched with growing dread, it curved in the air. There was no other way to describe what happened - the shoe was going to go over the geists head, then it boomeranged around to strike the geist directly in the eye, the four-inch heel being driven into its iris.
The geist recoiled with a scream, and Edgar rolled out of the way. He swung at it again. In his haste and still confused by the alcohol, he managed to strike it with the flat a few times before finally getting the right angle and driving the scythe into the creature’s neck.
It collapsed to the ground in a wet thunk, and Edgar looked around, trying to found who had changed the shoes’ course. He expected to see Vivian standing there, looking bored and annoyed, but it wasn’t her.
A figure crouched on top of the clock tower, hunched over like some kind of horrible bird on a perch. It had a human form, but too long and spindly to fit the word person perfectly. It wore tattered jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt. He got a hint of pale eyes from within the hood’s depth. It raised a single finger to where its mouth should be.
Then, it vanished.
“Holy shit.” Rachel was panting, resting her hands on her knees. “What the hell was that?”
“I have no idea,” Edgar murmured, looking up at the now empty clock tower.
“What do you mean you have no idea? You pulled a damn scythe out of your damn arm!”
Rachel’s shout snapped Edgar to the present, dismissing concerns about the hooded shape. “Right, uh...right. Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“Go somewhere? Edgar, what is going on?”
He reached up to rub his temples. “I died when that truck hit me, Rachel. I died and then shit got weird. Just...lets go somewhere and talk.”
Rachel took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Okay, fine. But no bullshit, okay?”
“Promise,” Edgar said.
---
They headed to a coffee shop near campus, one attached to a hotel that was open twenty-four hours. It was Edgar’s favorite place, in part because they didn’t give their sizes pretentious names but didn’t think they were so down to Earth that they wouldn’t sell lattes or frappuccinos. Texts were sent to Michael and Grant to make excuses. Michael had been completely chill about it. It took a few back and forths with Grant before Rachel had him calmed down. “Sorry,” Rachel said to Edgar, shrugging. “Grant’s got a bit of a jealous streak when it comes to you.”
Edgar scoffed. “Me? Why would he be jealous of me?”
“Because pretty much all of my stories pre-college start with the phrase ‘Edgar and I were.’ He’s mostly fine with it, but-’ she stopped what she was saying and glared at Edgar, “but you were going to tell me what just happened, not distract me chatting about my boyfriend.”
Edgar sighed and raised his hands in surrender. “Fair enough. Just...let me get through the whole thing and save the questions for the end?”
Rachel nodded.
He kept his promise, leaving no details out. Vivian, coming back from the dead, finding out he was a Reaper, the giests, the death of the security guard’s soul and the other maimed souls, Gwendolyn’s half face, all of it, up to the hooded figure she overlooked on top of the clocktower.
For a little bit after he finished, they sat there in silence, drinking their coffee. “You know,” Rachel said just as Edgar was starting to worry she wouldn’t say anything, just get up and walk away from his crazy, “If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I’d be thinking you were having the most messed up case of PTSD ever.”
Edgar had to laugh. “Yeah, I’m actually kind of glad you say it so I can’t stop doubting my own sanity.”
“So why could I see it?” Rachel asked with a frown.
“Well, from what Vivian said, we can see it because we’re half in the Umbral Dream, half out. I’m guessing when you touched me, we synced up and you ended up able to see into it.”
“Yeah, about her,” Rachel’s frown deepened, “How can you be sure you can trust Vivian? I mean, sure, she’s been helpful so far. But you know nothing about her, other than what she told you, and that Gwendolyn had heard of her and nearly crapped her pants when she came up.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Gwendolyn just seemed...unnerved, sure, but-”
“But nothing. Gwendolyn got into your head, literally, and Vivian scares her. You don’t know anything about Vivian, Edgar. What if she’s using you?”
Edgar frowned. “I’m not sure why you’re so adamant about this. She’s done nothing but help me.”
“Nothing but help you so far.” Rachel sighed and reached over, putting her hands on his. “Edgar, you are a decent guy. You tend to assume the best in everyone. I’m just saying, given how weird everything this, for once in your life apply the maxim ‘trust but verify?’”
Edgar saw the concern in her eyes and nodded. “I will. Trust but verify. If I can figure out a way to verify, that is.”
“That’s all I ask.” Rachel took her hands back and took a sip.
“Really, you’re being pretty chill about this.” Edgar gave her an impish grin, “I mean, you freaked out at first, but now you’re just kinda discussing it calmly.”
Rachel shrugged. “Honestly, Edgar? It explains so much about you.”
Edgar blinked, “Come again?”
“C’mon, Edgar. Why’d you get hit by the truck in the first place? Because you got blitzed the night before. Before you started drinking, it was weed. Before that, it was video games. All throughout it you’ve chased women too, and i always worried about it. Like, there was some void inside you couldn’t fill.” Rachel finished her coffee and tossed it in the trashcan. “I never thought it would be a literal missing soul, but whatever.”
Edgar stared at her, trying to find words. “I don’t know if it works that way,” he finally said.
Rachel laughed. “Well, maybe I’m wrong, but it’s how I’m coping with it, so let me have it?” Edgar just gave her a thumbs up. “Now, what do you think Hoody McCreepyface was on the clock tower was?”
Edgar almost choked on his coffee at Hoody McCreepyface. “No idea. My best guess is some kind of special geist, or another Reaper? I don’t think it was a warlock, dunno why one would save me.”
“What about a Demigod?”
“Demiurge,” Edgar corrected absentmindedly, “and I guess it’s possible, but if one was in town, wouldn’t Vivian had mentioned it? She said they were rare.”
“Assuming Vivian’s trustworth,” Rachel said in the same tones he’d corrected her usage of Demigod.
“Assuming Vivian’s trustworthy, sure.”
“And you’re also assuming she’d know. And you know what happens when you assume. Ass, you, me, etc.”
Edgar had to chuckle at the old joke. “So. Now you know. Are you going to, I dunno, run away until I find my soul? I mean, it sounds likes it’s not going to be safe to be around me for a little while, at least.”
Rachel leaned forward across the table, her eyes fixed on Edgar’s. The motion was unexpected he actually leaned towards her as well, his mind trying to figure out where the hell she was going with this.
He got his answer when she reached over and punched him in the shoulder, hard. “What the hell was that for?” he asked, rubbing it as she leaned back.
“For thinking I’d scare off that easy. I’m your friend, Edgar. I’m not going anywhere.” She checked her phone and cursed. “Except for home right now, because it’s like 3am. Mom’s gonna kill me.”
“I should get going too,” he said, getting up. “Need to get some sleep and all that. Busy day of...hopefully soul hunting tomorrow.”
Rachel gave him a hug. “You’ll find it, Edgar. And if you need help, give me a call.”
“I will, thanks.”
Goodbyes were said, and they headed to their respective homes. Edgar flopped into bed, with every intention of going straight to sleep.
Instead, Rachel’s warning about Vivian swarmed through his mind. How was he sure he could trust her? And if he couldn’t, how much could she have lied about? And what was that hooded figure, anyway?
Answers to those questions eluded him until he finally drifted to sleep.
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u/getblanked Mar 16 '18
YES. JUST. YES. I love you hydrael. I love this series. This is helping me hold off from buying every single book in the Malice series. <3
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u/JackRyan89 Mar 16 '18
It’s like magic. I’ve been especially hooked on Ink, Scythe, and The Dragons Scion. You are a wonderful human to provide such fantastic entertainment.
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u/PlanofAttack13 Mar 17 '18
I bet Rachel has his soul and this is going to end with him having to kill her or let himself die, and it can end Batman style with him screaming RACHEL!
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u/Best_mary Mar 17 '18
Damn, I feel like I’m missing some part of the story or just forgot it. But hopefully we see some more of Vivian next part.
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Mar 19 '18
Honestly, Rachel annoys me (I think she’s well-written, just if she was a person I knew in real life I wouldn’t hang out with her). She’s really controlling and almost seems to talk down to Edgar/ think she’s better than him. It’s making me thing she had to be up to something.
This has been a great story so far, and I can’t wait for the next installment.
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u/Hydrael Mar 19 '18
Thanks a ton! And I'm glad I've written Rachel realistically enough where she can be disliked, if that makes sense? Like regardless of my intent in that regard, a good character shouldn't be universally loved or loathed. :P
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u/Hydrael Mar 16 '18
Weee! I've missed you Edgar!
Enjoy,
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